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Adrianna's
Christmas Miracle
Part
Two
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Grandma had said
they had things to do. What could she possibly
mean? It was Christmas morning. Their
breakfast table was laden with food that Adrianna only
had on very special mornings. She knew what was
under their skimpy holly Christmas tree and so decided
she would take her time in savoring every crumb and
morsel of her egg, sweet roll and bacon.
To add to the
beauty and meaning of their Christmas morning Grandma
reached over and picked up her old worn Bible. While
Adrianna continued to slowly eat, Grandma began to read
the Christmas story found in the book of Luke. Adrianna
had heard the story countless times but her heart was
always filled with gladness when she heard the familiar
words of the second chapter.
"11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a
savior, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a m ultitude of
the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good
will toward men."
When Adrianna
finished her breakfast the plate gleamed almost as clean
as it was before she ate.There was not a trace of food
left on it. Her face beamed brightly with a
satisfied smile as she thanked her grandmother for such a
lovely Christmas breakfast. Grandma laid the Bible on the
table, leaving it open where she had been reading.
Grandma,
what do we have to do today?
We
have to take our gifts to the neighbors Addy. Its
Christmas and I want to get done with the deliveries soon
so I can get back and finish our Christmas dinner.
What
gifts do we have to give, Grandma? Adrianna
was puzzled because she knew there was not enough money
for them. How was Grandma going to give something
to someone else?
I
made cookies to share with our friends and egg customers,
Addy. Before you ask, you know I saved some for
you. We also need to take the preacher and his wife
the afghan I made for them. Go put your coat on and
Ill gather up the packages of cookies.We need to
hurry. Addy could not figure out what the
rush was since she knew there was little foood in the
house but she hurried along anyway since Grandma had been
so insistent.
There
was a lot of walking to be done and the packages would
become heavy so they packed them in Addys old toy red
wagon. It rattled and squeaked along behind them
and each sound it made seem to irritate Addy. She
didnt need that squeaky old wagon to remind her
that they didnt have a nice car to ride in instead
of walking in the cold. It didnt seem to
bother Grandma since she had never owned a car and had
walked almost everywhere she needed to go.
Each
stop they made to deliver cookies seemed to bring joy to
the family receiving them. There were warm hugs and
invitations to come inside and visit. Grandma
declined all offers graciously with the excuse that they
still had stops to make. Always before leaving they
were given something in exchange for the cookies. Addy
noticed that the wagon seemed to be more full as they
neared the end of their journey than when they began it.
The
last stop was at the preachers house. His
wife came to the door and this time Grandma accepted the
invitation to come inside but only for a few minutes to
warm her bones. This house had to belong to a
preacher, thought Addy, because it was about as close to
heaven as she had ever been on this earth. Every
room was neat as a pin and decorated for the holiday.
It looked and smelled like the pastry shop and the flower
shop had all been tied up in a pretty Christmas bow and
put inside.
The
preachers wife explained that the preacher was out
taking care of some Christmas errands and wouldnt
be home for a while. Grandma insisted that their
present be opened without him because they needed to get
home. Their own errands had taken longer than had
been expected and they still had their own Christmas
dinner to finish preparing.
The
preachers wife clapped her hands with joy when she
opened Grandmas afghan. It was made of a rich
blue and trimmed in snow white. She exclaimed that
it would look perfect on the back of her living room sofa
and proceeded to demonstrate as she carefully draped it
there. She was right. It did seem to have
found a place of glory to rest, giving honor to
Grandmas hard work on it.
Grandma
gave a satisfied glance back at it as she announced that
they must be on their way. Warm hugs were exchanged
along with promises of prayer remembrances. It was
not until they were almost home that Addy realized that
the one place where they had stopped and given the
largest gift was the one place where they had received
nothing in return. This was puzzling to her but she
decided to keep her thoughts to herself for now.
Their
little house was within view and both Addy and Grandma
were glad to see it. The long walk had been tiring
for both of them. Their little Christmas tree could
be seen twinkling through the front window. Addy
was sure Grandma had not left it on but she was glad to
see it. It was by far not be the fanciest Christmas
tree she had seen today but it gave her a bit of warmth
to see it welcoming her home.
Grandma
gathered the packages into her arms and went on into the
house. Addy took the little red wagon back to it
resting place in the barn. Pulling her coat close
around her, she shivered from the cold wind as she ran
across the yard into the house. Banging the back
door as usual, she heard wonderment in Grandmas voice as
she called her to the sitting room.
What
she saw before her eyes made her stop dead in her tracks.
She could hardly see their little Christmas tree. It
was surrounded by packages with pretty red ribbons and
green bows. The top of the tree was adorned
with the most beautiful angel she had ever seen in her
life! How did this happen? Where did these
things come from? Questions tumbled around in her
mind but her lips remained frozen in astonished silence.
Addy,
come see what the Christmas angel left for you.
Grandmas own voice was trembling as if she were near
tears.
Together
they began exploring the wonders beneath the tree. There
was a new coat for Addy that fitted perfectly along with
new shoes and pair after pair of new socks. When
she tried on the coat her hand automatically went to the
pockets. Inside the pockets she found pretty new
gloves. She had books to read. There were
toys to be played with and a tiny music box that had a
dancing ballerina on top. She found her gift from
Grandma, which was a new crocheted hat to keep her ears
warm.
Grandma
found a new winter coat for herself as well as new shoes
and warm cotton stockings. She had presents of
sweaters and scarves and a bottle of the sweetest
smelling perfume. That was something Grandma had
never said anything about wanting. It would have
been too frivolous to want for such things. When
she opened the tray Addy had made for her she stopped and
gave her a warm hug.
This
may well be my most cherished gift of all Addy. It
has so much of your love interlaced in it.
Oh
Grandma, it was nothing. Addy mumbled, but she hid
a smile of delight.
Just
when they thought they had received everything that one
could possibly want Addy heard Grandma catch her breath
in startled amazement. Addy looked up from the
package she held on her lap and followed Grandmas
eyes. Resting against the wall, almost completely
hidden behind the Christmas tree was a shiny new blue
bicycle!
Together
they carefully pulled it from behind the tree. A
big red bow was tied in the middle of the handlebars.
The bow was so large; it almost filled the wire basket
that was mounted on the front. Who could have known
that Addy was afraid to walk the long walk from the bus
to their house? She had never told anyone. Now,
she could ride her bicycle to the highway and leave it
behind a tree until she got back in the afternoon. She
could be home twice as fast.
The
discovery of the bicycle was what was needed to pull them
from the Christmas tree. They took it outside so
Addy could practice learning to ride it. After a
couple of fruitless attempts she was riding like a champ.
Grandma went back inside the house to prepare their
Christmas dinner. The gifts they had received in
exchange for their cookies had almost all been holiday
food.
Grandma
kept a watchful eye out the window at Addy as she went
about laying their holiday table. When she called
Addy inside the sun was slipping behind the trees. After
feasting on more food than either of them had seen in a
long while they were exhausted.
Addy
went back outside to check on her new bicycle and decided
since it had begun to snow that it would fair better if
she brought it back inside. She placed it carefully
back behind the little twinkling Christmas tree and
climbed up on Grandmas warm lap. It was there
that she fell asleep wearing a warm Christmas smile.
Maybe
Santa was delayed in his rounds. Maybe there was a
Christmas angel. Whatever and whomever did not
matter to Addy. All she knew for certain was that
there was such a thing as a Christmas miracle!
By
Rose Abrams
2001
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** All
images ŠTom Sierak and used with permission**
**Personal
Note: Thank you Mr. Sierak for your kind expressions regarding
my writing and for the use of your beautiful graphics
which enhance my words.
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